Indian equity benchmarks
continued reeling under selling pressure for the sixth consecutive session on
Thursday as geopolitical tensions, a rise in US bond yields, and a sell-off in
blue-chip stocks made investors jittery. After the gap-down start, the markets
gradually drifted lower as the day progressed and finally settled around the
day's lows as traders got anxious with provisional data from the National Stock
Exchange showing that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs
4,236.60 crore on October 25. Sentiments remained down-beat with private report
stating that Indian consumer spending during this year's festival season will
be slightly better than in 2022, but probably not enough to ramp up the speed
of what is already the world's fastest-growing major economy. Investors
overlooked report that investment in the Indian capital markets through
participatory notes rose over a six-year high at Rs 1.33 lakh crore at
September-end, making it the seventh consecutive monthly increase, on the back
of robust macroeconomic fundamentals. Traders also paid no heed towards reports
that government think tank NITI Aayog initiated a study to develop a
comprehensive action plan to bridge India's trade deficit with China over time
and align trading strategies with emerging geopolitical situation and potential
risks to safeguard supply chains. The Aayog has invited bids from consultants
to lead the two studies in areas of reducing trade gap with China and boosting
local manufacturing. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has approved a memorandum of
cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan on a Semiconductor Supply Chain
Partnership. The memorandum of cooperation between the two countries was signed
in July. Japan has become the second Quad partner after the US to sign an
agreement with India for the joint development of the semiconductor ecosystem
and maintain the resilience of its global supply chain. Finally, the BSE Sensex
fell 900.91 points or 1.41% to 63,148.15 and the CNX Nifty was down by 264.90
points or 1.39% to 18,857.25.
The US markets ended lower on
Thursday, magnifying their previous session's losses. A negative reaction to
quarterly results from Meta Platforms (META) weigh on the Nasdaq, with the
Facebook parent plunging by 3.7 percent despite reporting third quarter results
that exceeded street estimates on the top and bottom lines. The weakness on
markets also came despite the release of a slew of largely upbeat U.S. economic
data, including a Commerce Department report showing GDP soared by more than expected
in the third quarter of 2023. The Commerce Department said GDP spiked by 4.9
percent in the third quarter after jumping by 2.1 percent in the second
quarter. Street had expected GDP to surge by 4.2 percent. The stronger than
expected GDP growth partly reflected a surge in consumer spending, which soared
by 4.0 percent in the third quarter after climbing by 0.8 percent in the second
quarter. The Commerce Department also released a report showing new orders for
U.S. manufactured durable goods spiked by much more than expected in the month
of September. The report said durable goods orders soared by 4.7 percent in
September following a revised 0.1 percent dip in August. On the sectoral front,
Computer hardware stocks saw considerable weakness on the day, with the NYSE
Arca Computer Hardware Index tumbling by 2.5 percent to a nearly five-month
closing low. Shares of Western Digital (WDC) moved sharply lower after a report
from the Nikkei newspaper said the company and Japan's Kioxia Holdings have
called off merger talks.
Crude oil futures ended sharply
lower with cut of over two percent on Thursday as concerns of a wider Middle
East conflict eased while the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer,
showed signs of weakening demand. Further, recent data showing a surge in U.S.
crude inventories, and concerns about interest rates too weighed on oil prices.
Benchmark crude oil futures for December delivery fell $2.18 or 2.6 percent to
settle at $83.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for
December delivery dropped $2.20 or 2.44 percent to settle at $87.93 a barrel on
London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Rupee settled lower against
dollar on Thursday dragged down by massive selling in equity markets and
strengthening American currency overseas. Traders were worried amid rising US
bond yield that may result in more fund outflows from India. Investors
overlooked report that investment in the Indian capital markets through
participatory notes rose over a six-year high at Rs 1.33 lakh crore at
September-end, making it the seventh consecutive monthly increase, on the back
of robust macroeconomic fundamentals. On the global front, the dollar was
buoyant on Thursday, hovering at a near three-week high as Treasury yields rose
and appetite for riskier currencies dimmed, while the yen briefly surged after
breaching 150.50 per dollar, keeping traders jittery about intervention. Finally,
the rupee ended at 83.25 (Provisional), weaker by 8 paise from its previous
close of 83.17 on Wednesday.
The FIIs as per Thursday's data
were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross
buying was of Rs 9127.75 crore against gross selling of Rs 13152.96 crore,
while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 241.30 crore with gross
sales of Rs 265.69 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was
of Rs 8.97 crore against gross selling of Rs 26.10 crore.
The US markets ended lower on
Thursday as investors weighed disappointing tech earnings against upbeat GDP
data. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday as the dollar steadied after
hitting a three-week high in the previous session on robust U.S. GDP data.
Indian markets ended in red on Thursday as tensions in West Asia, coupled with
sticky US Treasury yields at around 5 per cent, triggered risk-off sentiment
among investors. Today, benchmark indices are likely to get flat-to-positive
start tracking gains in Asian counterparts. Also, some support will come after
crude prices fell more than $2 a barrel overnight amid easing Middle East
fears. Israel has heeded to US' request of delaying its Gaza invasion to make
time to negotiate hostage releases and keep humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza.
Traders may take encouragement as a report from the Institute for Energy
Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) showed that replacing natural gas
consumption with biogas and biomethane incrementally to 20 per cent by 2030 can
help India cut liquefied natural gas import bills by $29 billion between
financial years 2025 and 2030. Investors will be eying the upcoming the Reserve
Bank of India's meeting of senior officials from some banks likely to be held
on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 to discuss the prevailing liquidity conditions in the
banking system. Besides, the Ministry of Finance said the span of nine years,
that is Assessment Year (AY) 2013-2014 and 2021-2022, saw an increase of 90 per
cent in filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) by individual tax payers. The number
of ITRs filed increased from 3.36 crore in AY 2013-14 to 6.37 crore in AY
2021-22. However, foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. According to
the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors
(FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 7,702.53 crore on October 26, 2023. Some
cautiousness may come with a private report that fundraising through corporate
bonds fell in October due to the rising cost of borrowing through these
instruments. Meanwhile, China was the top exporter of finished steel to India in
the first six months of the fiscal year that began in April. Investors will
keep close eye on earnings results for more directional cues with most of the
companies to report their quarterly results. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki
India, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life Insurance, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories are
among others to report quarterly numbers today.
Support and
Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)
Index
|
Previous close
|
Support
|
Resistance
|
NSE
Nifty
|
18,857.25
|
18,782.84
|
18,986.69
|
BSE
Sensex
|
63,148.15
|
62,902.70
|
63,583.88
|
Nifty Top volumes
Stock
|
Volume
|
Previous close (Rs)
|
Support (Rs)
|
Resistance (Rs)
|
(in Lacs)
|
Tata
Steel
|
362.99
|
120.05
|
119.00
|
121.00
|
HDFC
Bank
|
277.81
|
1462.45
|
1451.14
|
1482.89
|
ICICI
Bank
|
216.93
|
910.00
|
900.46
|
918.06
|
State
Bank of India
|
194.25
|
547.00
|
542.50
|
552.20
|
ITC
|
188.01
|
432.65
|
429.26
|
436.31
|
NTPC has signed an agreement with Engineers India to work jointly on projects like carbon capture utilization and storage, green fuel among others.
Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Jio has entered into a partnership with Plume to provide market-leading smart home and small business services to its subscribers across India.
Infosys has signed a five-year collaboration with automotive marquee smart Europe GmbH to refine its D2C business model in Europe.
Hero MotoCorp has made an investment of Rs 15 crore by way of Rights issue in its subsidiary company, HMC MM Auto.